The Hatsuichi Festival has been running for about 400 years and takes the ideas of daruma (Japanese dolls associated with good luck and prosperity) to a public forum. At the beginning of the new ...

TAKASAKI, Gunma Prefecture—Thousands of daruma dolls, symbols of good luck and perseverance, were given a fiery ceremonial send-off at a Zen Buddhist temple here on Jan. 15. A towering pile of ...